Dabbieri Blog

Complementary Neutral Tones

When you think neutrals, typically muted earthy tones like white, black, brown, cream, and gray come to mind. This is because neutrals are hues that appear to be without color —they don't compete with primary colors and instead complement them. Well, we have good news for you: neutrals are making a big comeback this season as people search for calmness and tranquility in their at-home lives. Neutrals go with any color scheme, making them a perfect choice for the more permanent areas in your home, like floors and walls. Laying a neutral foundation is key as trends change and colors of the year fly by because these neutrals remain a present fixture that can withstand the test of time and provide a beautiful canvas for other colors to pop on. But how do you choose which neutrals complement other neutrals? Let us guide you through some graceful and straightforward ways to incorporate neutral tones throughout your home.

Cool-Toned Rugs on Dark Woods

Everyone loves a dark wood floor like mahogany or walnut as it can elevate a space and give an air of formality; cool-toned rugs with bits of gray, blue-gray, or greige work well with darker woods and give your room a bit of dimension and a break from all that darkness. This gray-flecked neutral rug works to add more texture to the room through its composition, and when placed over dark, fine-grained wood, it heightens the space, giving the room a layered, cozy look despite its cooler tones. For those worried about neutrals feeling drab or one-dimensional, don't fret, as you can also add dimension through lines, curves, and unique shapes in your furniture while still sticking to a neutral color palette.

Pulling Colors from Neutrals

Pulling a color tone from your neutral carpets can distinguish the decor from the flooring while also remaining cohesive in the design theme. The easiest way to find a color in your neutral carpet is to search for its undertone. Is it a cooler gray carpet? Then maybe opt for sage greens or light blues. Is it beige? Try sandy browns and burnt oranges. For instance, this speckled marble carpet from International Design Guild's Dabbieri line holds gray, beige, and green tones. This is played with throughout the room with a gray armchair, suede beige couch, and green accents of plants and wallpaper.

Slight Variation of Neutrals

The best part about a neutral color scheme is that they all work well together. Use this knowledge to your advantage by designing your space with slight variations of the neutral color throughout. Using this logic, you can stay true to the room's cohesive aesthetic while also maybe warming up the room a bit. Installing a light-aged wood allows you to marry colors like a tanner beige and blush pink infusing warmth throughout the space. You can also play with contrast by adding dramatic lighting or installing a light luxury vinyl floor but layering in darker wood cabinets. 

Stick To Black and White

When all else fails, stick to the traditional black and white. This trend has been around for a long time, and for a good reason: it works. Monochrome color schemes are a popular design trend, as they lend a fresh, clean look to any space. Don't fret about your room looking too cold or formal, though, because you can always let other neutrals come to play via artwork, curtains, lamps, furniture, and other decor in the space. Not to mention, black and white make a strong solid background for other colors to take center stage in your design vision.

Show us how you've introduced inspiring neutrals into your space!

Adding Texture With Neutral Floors

Establishing texture throughout your home can make it a warmer, more inviting –and more intriguing –environment. While using loud colors can be an easy way to add dimension to your space, colorful floors are not always an ideal choice, as they’re typically a lifelong investment. We’re here to tell you that it’s possible to create a design that can withstand the years of trends, by using with neutral flooring solutions.

Off-White Alternating Patterned Carpet

One of the best ways to create texture in spaces like your living room and bedroom is by installing a luxe carpet in cream colors that brings with it a ribbed or textured pattern alternating throughout. Our Louis A. Dabbieri line of Lerwick style carpets is perfect for this in the Clay hue, as it seamlessly ties together a room with its off-white based-color. With an alternating striped texture, it can be dressed up for a more formal setting or dressed down with more contemporary furniture pieces. The other wonderful part of having a cream-colored carpet is that any color will pop on this carpet and it can match whatever color-scheme you might have in mind for the rest of the room.

Contrasting Neutrals in Large Prints

Another way to create texture in your space is through large printed neutral carpets that have fun patterns that could be repeated throughout the room. Adding two neutral colors to a space might even expand the colors available for the rest of the rooms décor and can ground the room in a cohesive composition. One such carpet is from our Dabbieri line of Statesville carpets in Gull Ivory. Tying together the shades of ivory white and a gray-blue allows this carpet to bring both cool and warm tones to the room.

Medium-Toned Hardwood in Fine Grain

Hardwood is always a timeless flooring option and for those looking to add the element of texture with their floors, steer towards a more fine-grained hardwood. Look for woods that have plenty of texture naturally within their planks and show off unique knots or other blemishes. For example, the Dabbieri collection carries a line of Le Havre hardwood and this particular hickory shrub hardwood has the characteristics of a lighter wood with its modern wide-planks but shows of the deep-grains of its medium-toned that has been carefully hand-sawn.

Wire-Brushed Luxury Vinyl

If you’re looking for a floor that brings dimension to your space through the texture of real hardwood but is also waterproof and stain-resistant enough to withstand your active lifestyle, wire-brushed luxury vinyl planks are the perfect choice for you. Look for collections that are inspired by woods with larger pores and coarser grains such as pine or oak. Our Dabbieri H2O LVT collection of Jones Point planks are a great example of elegant grain patterns. Choose a neutral, more medium-toned wood in tan to lay out a canvas that can work with endless design themes from traditional to contemporary.

Eco Chic Carpeting

Comfort, sustainability and functionality are at the forefront of most homeowners minds these days, which makes sense considering just how much time we’ve been spending at home. Eco-friendly area rugs and carpets are a simple way to incorporate coziness into your home decor while keeping your space environmentally friendly. As we continue into 2021, sustainability and wellness are two major trends that will be interwoven throughout popular design themes. Finding natural, renewable fibers like organic wool, sisal, jute, seagrass and bamboo to scatter throughout your home can easily add elegance and warmth to your overall design. Eco-chic carpets tend to do better in low-traffic areas of the home, as their natural materials can be less durable than their synthetic counterparts, but still, these sustainable options are a wonderful flooring solution to make a green-statement and personalize your decor. Below are a few suggestions on how to invest in eco-chic carpeting this season.

Sustainably Sourced Area Rugs

By International Design Guild Manchester - See more Home Design Photos

Nowadays, many carpet brands are selling green collections made from recycled materials such as recycled water bottles, recycled synthetic fibers, and more. For those who want take a completely natural approach to their flooring solutions, jute makes a good heavy-duty rug with it’s thick, tightly woven material and durability best suited for low-traffic areas. Coir is another great natural alternative for area rugs coming in an earthy beige. Composed from the husks of coconut, coir makes for a long-lasting, tough carpet for high traffic areas of the home like your entryway or mudroom.

Barefoot Organic Wool For Soft Appearance

Cocoparra in Antique Lace by Dabbieri Naturals

A growing trend in bedrooms and living rooms is deep-pile carpets in undyed organic wool as they are super soft underfoot. Investing in a wool carpet is incredibly sustainable, as it is rated well for resilience and with the proper care and maintenance can outlast synthetic fiber carpets. Our exclusive line of Dabbieri Naturals here at International Design Guild is crafted from the most durable, responsibly sourced wool and comes thousands of designs, patterns and color schemes.

The Elegance of Sisal Herringbone

Herringbone patterns have seen a rise in popularity throughout the year and the herringbone sisal trend is just a subset off of this. Sisal, which is composed of a rope-like structure, is actually highly durable and can withstand heavier foot-traffic. When combined with a herringbone pattern, sisal can elevate a space and give it homey, uniquely personal feel. Whether you’re looking for a wall-to-wall carpet or a small area rug, sisal herringbone is a classic choice and will create soft earth-tones to complement your existing home decor.

Using Earthy, Grounded Shades to Bring in Outdoors

While this time of year can feel a bit drab and uninspired, one great way to lighten up your home is by bringing in some grounded outdoor elements and placing them centerstage indoors. Incorporating natural materials, colors and fibers into your home decor can actually increase your productiveness by signifying stability and assurance which gives your mindset a positive boost on the dreariest of winter days.  Create a tranquil space in your home by using earthy, grounded shades that mimic nature in your design elements.

Rich Dark Hardwood

By International Design Guild Manchester - See more Home Design Photos

Install a dark-toned hardwood, for instance, a rich mahagony throughout your home to give you the sense of being outdoors amongst the trees and the dark earth. Dark hardwood is the perfect choice for anyone looking to elevate a room in their home as it seamlessly fits into almost any exiting decor whether traditional or modern. Hardwood is a timeless appeal, known for it’s long life span and versatility. If you already have a dark hardwood in your space, spruce it up by adding dry flower arrangements that complement the dark tones in your floors —maybe place a sprig of lavender on your nightstand or scatter some dried pampas grass along your coffee table to keep encourage green growth all year round.

Honey-Hued LVT

By International Design Guild Manchester - See more Home Design Photos

Luxury vinyl planks are a convenient way to mimic natural hardwood throughout your home and provide a waterproof, petproof surface for your active home. While honey-hued luxury vinyl planks in shades of white oak marry well with contemporary design themes, light maple can easily slide into a more traditional home setting. Both can help to bring some warmth to your architecture. These lighter hues also open up your rooms, giving you more natural light and providing an illusion of more space. Honey-hued LVP can contrast really well with darker shaded walls, so if you’re looking to paint a room a grounded earthy green or redoing your cabinets in a teal blue, turn to light luxury vinyl planks for the best flooring match.

Naturally Neutral Carpets

With spring right around the corner, what better way to freshen up your home than with a luxuriously natural carpet. Choose soft shades of brown, neutral beiges and richer grays this season. This trend not only brings in natural tones but also provides a nice canvas for other colors to show off. Of course, being sustainable and minimalist is at the top of many designer’s minds these days and while purchasing environmentally friendly carpets can be a big investment, their long-lasting benefits outweigh the costs. Most green-selected rugs and carpets are made from recycled polyester or nylon plastic and are more durable underfoot. Selecting natural fibers like wool, sisal and jute is also a perfectly acceptable design route as these materials come in muted shades that are created from natural elements.

Making a Cottagecore Statement with Area Rugs

This year in home design trends we’ve seen a big return to romantic inspired western agricultural life, otherwise known on TikTok, Instagram and Pinterest as Cottagecore. Cottagecore is an aesthetic centered around simple ideas that are environmentally and naturally friendly while also promoting cozy comfort. If you’re nostalgic for the old ways of life and looking to reconnect with nature, Cottagecore home design is perfect for you with it’s timeless, homey appeal. As you look to incorporate this trend into your home decor, think about adding some Cottagecore-inspired area rugs around your house.

Fun and Floral

By International Design Guild Manchester - See more Home Design Photos

One easy way to hop on board with Cottagecore is simply finding a minimalist space and sprucing it up with a fun floral print area rug. Dress up your bare floorboards in the bathroom next to your clawfoot tub (which is also very on theme) or decorate your bedroom with a beautiful array of French-inspired florals in a plush pink rug to sink your feet into. If floral isn’t exactly your cup of tea, try a more botanical-inspired design in muted greens and browns that will still highlight the natural aspects in your room.

Adding Hygge

The Danish ways of hygge are very much a part of the Cottagecore trend as hygge encourages quality time in comfortable spaces. Find an area rug that holds some sort of meaning to you —maybe it reminds you of something your grandma used to have or it’s an heirloom rug passed down through the generations. No matter what style rug this is, if you let it infuse your space with its design, influencing other decor in similar shades and patterns, it will lend a comfortable glow to your room. The surrounding aesthetic will surely be a place for good conversation.

Au Natural

Photo of Chadwell in Tundra from the Dabbieri Naturals Collection

Sustainability is one of cottagecore’s biggest values, so picking out a rug that’s both aesthetically pleasing and environmentally friendly is key. Find something composed of natural materials like sisal or jute. Or, if you prefer a softer area rug, shop greener by checking where your rug is sourced from —many nylon rugs now days can be made from recycled plastic and even mimic the texture of real wool. 

Plaids and Patterns

Photo of Landfair in Espresso from the Dabbieri Collection

Plaids lend a timeless appeal to almost any room in the house, whether its in a throw rug at the base of your fireplace or a blanket hanging off the rocking chair in your living room. Plaids, gingham, checked-patterns and Tartan-inspired area rugs are a wonderful way to infuse Cottagecore throughout your home while also making a bold statement. These patterns give your home a quaint, nostalgic feel. If you aren’t ready to commit to a full black and white plaid rug, opt for a softer palette of neutrals that can tie in beautifully with your existing furniture and floors.